‘Wild Wild West’ At 20: The Absentee Father Of ‘Django’ And The Yee Haw Agenda

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In 1998, Hollywood’s summer box office king, Will Smith, was in the middle of one of the most impressive runs in movie history. From 1995 to 2008, the artist also known as the Fresh Prince amassed well over $5 billion in ticket sales, propelled by an at times seemingly effortless genre-hopping range of films. It seemed like Smith could do it all: an action-rich buddy comedy (1995’s Bad Boys); an alien invasion flick (1996’s Independence Day); an over-the-top sci-fi romp (1997’s Men in Black); a conspiratorial political thriller (1999’s Enemy of the State); and Oscar-nominated biopics (2001’s Ali and 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness). He also stuck the landing with a futuristic mortality tale (2004’s I Robot); an animated underwater adventure (2004’s Shark’s Tale); a slapstick rom-com (2005’s Hitch); a post-apocalyptic battle for the survival of the human race (2007’s I Am Legend); and a bold, risk-taking superhero flick for adults (2008’s Hancock).

“I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.” – Will Smith

Which is why the Philadelphia-born hip-hop and movie icon’s steampunk western comedy, Wild Wild West (1999), is such a fascinating aberration. For starters, the full-blown popcorn disaster—which featured an at the time on-fire Smith as U.S. Army Captain James West, who, alongside Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline), is tasked with hunting down Confederate war criminal General “Bloodbath” McGrath, and eventual big baddie Dr. Arliss Loveless—ranks as the superstar’s most infamous flop.

With its eye-popping $170 million budget and paltry $222 million return, Wild Wild West, loosely based on the 1960s television series, has been elevated to epic bomb status; a cinematic monstrosity so over the top that it has now become the stuff of Tinsel Town legend. When the Golden Raspberry Awards, which recognizes the most embarrassing performances in the film world, named that movie Worst Picture in 2000, Wild Wild West’s original creator, Michael Garrison, accepted the dubious Razzies trophy (it won five out of nine awards for that year) with plenty of side-eye for the big screen version. Indeed, Wild Wild West was universally dragged by bleeding hearts, right-wing zealots, independents, babies, dogs, cats, rats, insects and just about every sentient being.

But no one brought more contemptible rebuke than late Pulitzer Prize film critic Roger Ebert. “Wild Wild West is a comedy dead zone,” he bristled. “You stare in disbelief as scenes flop and die. The movie is all concept and no content; the elaborate special effects are like watching money burn on the screen.” Then there’s this gut-punch of a line: “There are moments when all artifice fails, and you realize you are regarding desperate actors, trapped on the screen, fully aware they've been left hanging out to dry.” Ouch.

And it gets worse. Wild Wild West’s flat jokes not only wasted the sizable talents of Will Smith and Academy Award winner Kline, it fumbled the esteemed presence of five-time Oscar-nominee and two-time Emmy winner Kenneth Branagh (Dr. Loveless) and future Frida actress and all-around powerhouse Salma Hayek (Rita Escobar). Oh, yeah. Smith actually turned down a headlining role in the landmark, game-changing The Matrix film series to star in Wild Wild West. Like we said. Pretty bad.

Nearly 20 years later, Smith agreed with Ebert’s assessment of a project that he called his personal low point. “I had so much success that I started to taste global blood, and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning,” he recalled of his fateful decision to jump on board the Barry Sonnenfield-directed movie to the Hollywood Reporter during a 2016 interview. “I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag — around Wild Wild West time — I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.”

A philosophical Smith continued: “Back in the '80s and '90s you had a piece of crap movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was shit,” Smith said. “But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting ‘This is shit, go see Vin Diesel.'”